The Lonely
by GloriaNewt
Summary: First attempt at a songfic! Song is "The Lonely" by Christina Perri. Following Imogen's departure from Cackles Academy, Constance is distraught and isn't coping...


**Authors Note:**

**This is my first attempt at a songfic, so it may not be that great but I've tried my best! The song is by the amazing Christina Perri (The Lonely) which I would highly recommend listening to as it's such a fantastic song, listening to it earlier suddenly inspired this little idea of a Constance/Imogen story, but a little gem of a suggestion from Long Vodka saw the inclusion of a slight reference to Romeo and Juliet, so expect it to be very sad and without a happy ending…**

**Reviews always welcome, I would really appreciate to know what you thought of this songfic as I've never written in this style before!**

**2am, where do I****begin****  
><strong>**Crying off my face again**

The tall, cloaked figure walked the darkened corridors of Cackles Academy with an unrelenting tread, the forbidden tears allowed to escape in the privacy of the night, trailing down her gaunt, emaciated face as she walked the never-ending trail of passage, a living ghost, wasting away in the drowning sea of memories and regret, neither eating nor sleeping since that fateful night, attempting to fade away from the harshness of her reality.

******The silent sound of****loneliness****  
><strong>**Wants to follow me to bed**

It was two weeks to the day that Imogen had left. Walked out, swearing that she would never set foot in the castle again, distancing herself as far away as possible from the woman who had broken her heart, the woman who had refused to grant herself the luxury of feelings or love, the icy, reserved figure that was Constance Hardbroom. The deputy head had taken separation exceedingly hard, knowing that she had mercilessly driven the only person who had ever declared love for her away. Now she was unable to escape from the constricting bindings of pain, knowing that she would never see those beautiful green eyes again.  
><strong><br>****I'm the ghost of a girl****  
><strong>**That I want to be most**

She was fast becoming a shadow of her former self, a non-existent, bodiless entity as the pain of loss kept eating away within her, her broken heart disintegrating into dust, her body failing as the life systems shut down one by one, the dying spark of her will to live flickering listlessly as each day became more hopeless than the past, a gradual decline into nothingness.

******I'm the shell of a girl****  
><strong>**That I used to know well**

She never had Imogen's bravery, scared by the intensity of her feelings for the other woman, she had been too afraid to admit how she felt and had pushed her away, the instigator of her own downfall, the bitter knowledge that she was entirely to blame for her crumbling state of mind only fuelling her descent into madness.  
><strong><br>****Dancing slowly in an empty room****  
><strong>**Can the lonely take the place of you**

Her bare feet padded quietly along the stone floor, unflinching at the icy contact on her bare skin, the pain in her heart numbing her senses to any other stimuli.

******I sing myself a quiet lullaby****  
><strong>**Then you go and let the lonely in****  
><strong>**To take my heart again**

She paused, her heart fluttering in fear as she read the elegant script that formed the name of the occupant of the room in front of her. Imogen's room. She hadn't dared to venture into that scared space since that night, afraid that the memories stored within the dusty space would drown her beneath their crushing weight.  
><strong><br>****Too afraid, to go inside****  
><strong>**For the pain of one more loveless night**

Gently, she reached out with a shaking hand and opened the door to the abandoned room confronting the bleak interior with an unrelenting stare, clenching her teeth and digging her nails into the soft palms of her slender hands in a bid not to scream in the midst of the agony that was raging within her distorted mind, sinking onto the welcoming support of the soft bed before her faltering, disloyal legs folded beneath her fragile frame, unable to even support her non-existent weight.

******For the loneliness will stay with me****  
><strong>**And hold me till I fall asleep**

As she lay upon the embroidered cover, she could still smell a faint essence of Imogen upon the cotton sheets of the bed that had not been slept in for so long, a preserved memorial to the departed woman that she knew that she could no longer live without.  
><strong><br>****I'm the ghost of a girl****  
><strong>**That I want to be most****  
><strong>**I'm the shell of a girl****  
><strong>**That I used to know well**

Imogen's departure had removed the supportive beam from beneath her feet, her footsteps stumbling as the very foundations of her mind began to crack and tumble, falling rapidly into a state of abandoned disrepair, a condemned woman left with nothing but her thoughts. Nothing mattered without her; nothing could fill the aching gap that had been torn in her existence.  
><strong><br>****Dancing slowly in an empty room****  
><strong>**Can the lonely take the place of you**

Her mind had been made up. She knew what she must do to end the insanity, the only course left to her to remove the infected wound from her soul, the only treatment that could bring about the peace that she so desperately sought.

******I sing myself a quiet lullaby **

She pulled the glistening bottle out of her robes and kissed it lightly, her only escape from the torment that was tearing her heart in two before resting the icy glass against her lips, praying for the strength to end her pain, swallowing the murky contents in a single gulp, a defiant toast of farewell to the wreckage of her life. She could feel the numbing effect of the poison spreading across her emaciated torso like cool hands upon a fevered brow, existence slipping away from her like sand trickling through her fingers in the comforting detachment, the paralysis slowly beginning to work upon her bleeding heart.

******Then you go and let the lonely in****  
><strong>**To take my heart again****  
><strong> 

**Xxx**

A woman walked slowly along the shadowy corridors in the middle of the night, treading carefully to avoid alerting other to her presence, a comparative stranger in the familiar building that she had inhabited until two weeks ago. She was certain that Constance would know already that she was there, her sixth sense for trouble would have made the fine hairs stand up on the back of her swanlike neck as she sensed the intruder, the woman who returned because she could not bear to be away from the witch that she had grown to love beyond measure, the mighty sorceress that was Constance Hardbroom. For all her icy ways and abrupt dismissals, Imogen knew that a tender heart of gold lurked beneath Constance's unreachable exterior, a heart that was pure and brimming over with love, an alien sensation to the controlled woman that had threatened to snuff out and strangle their burgeoning romance, the confusion and shock at the truths revealed to her by the loyalties of her heart causing her to lash out verbally in fear and anxiety, instinctively pushing her love away with a stream of cruel rebukes that flowed effortlessly from her vicious tongue, the last remaining safety mechanism that maintained the padlock that had been placed over her heart, the harsh chains digging firmly into the beating organ like barbed wire, each subsequent contraction and dilation of the myogenic tissue tearing the wounds open further, her heart bleeding more with every day that she spent apart from Imogen. The incessant, unbearable pain that had led to the unfolding of the desperate scene that Imogen was confronted with as she opened the door of her recently vacated chamber.

"No," she gasped, tears welling in her eyes at the sight that lay before her, "No, not you Constance…"

**Broken pieces of****  
><strong>**A barely breathing story**

The stricken body of her lover lay stretched out upon the soft quilt of her bed like a cadaver upon a slab, her hazel eyes glazed with pain as her gaze met with Imogen's, reaching up with her trembling hand as the poison worked its terminal course through her veins, the blood stilling to a faltering halt as the single tear rolled slowly down the alabaster cheek, knowing that her time had come, that any hope of reconciliation had long died, her fate sealed as her time ticked slowly to a close.

"I-Imogen," she choked, her words freezing in her constricting throat as the toxin's work was nearly complete, "L-love…"

Imogen stretched out her hand so they met palm to palm, her fingers interlinking with Constance's slim digits in a final goodbye as the deathly pallor began to creep across the witches features.

"I-I'm s-so s-sorry…" the last of the air escaped from between her dark lips with a faint sigh, her airways finally closing beneath the effects of the venom, the apology dying on her lips as Imogen felt the grip of her fingers loosen, the last resistance to death being overridden by fate's determined resolve.

******Where there once was love****  
><strong>**Now there's only me****  
><strong>**And the lonely...**

The tears were now streaming down Imogen's tanned features in a silent cascade, unnoticed by the grieving woman as she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss upon the icy forehead of the woman in front of her before gently shutting her staring, glassy eyes for the last time, closing the shutters over the windows from which the light had been forever extinguished, the tormented witch finally at rest from her thoughts, so peaceful and graceful in the moonlight that dappled through the room that she merely looked as if she were asleep, her long dark eyelashes curled sweepingly over her almond eyes, the damp traces of her salty tears still shining unnaturally brightly upon the dull surface of her lifeless skin.

Imogen brushed the ebony hair away from the delicately formed ear, whispering faintly to her beloved as the silent sobs wracked violently through her, lost in the labyrinth of loss that had opened up like an ever growing chasm in her heart as the object of her life's desires slipped away into the ethereal world of stillness, a distant stranger on the misty shores of life. She allowed her head to fall onto Constance's bony shoulder, a final embrace as she breathed in deeply, the musky scent of Constance's distinctive perfume mingling lightly with the musty air.

******Dancing slowly in an empty room****  
><strong>**Can the****lonely****take the place of you**

"Constance..." she breathed hoarsely, not ever wanting to move from their deathly embrace, their bodies entwined forever in an eternal expression of love, the fated love of star-crossed lovers that had wrenched them so cruelly apart.

******I sing myself a quiet lullaby****  
><strong>**Then you go and let the lonely in**

There was nothing left within her now, a black empty void where her heart had decayed into a pile of sooty ashes as she cradled the lifeless form in her tanned arms, too late to offer her heart-felt apologies, too late to prevent the nightmarish train of events from running, too proud to give in and return, too late to tell her, the final message that she now whispered into the night, allowing the inky darkness to envelope her, holding her within its tight grip of guilt-ridden despair, a veil of mourning to mask her tears as she spoke to the lifeless body, the words that she had dared to first whisper aloud on that fateful night.

"I love you..."

**To take my heart again...**


End file.
